T-shirt retailers using homophobia to make money

Thanks to Chicago Sun-Times columnist and film critic Richard Roeper, a very ugly practice has come to light. T-shirt companies trying to make a buck off of the cross town rivalry between the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Cubs baseball teams have resorted to homophobia and racism to stimulate sales.

The Chicago White Sox won a World Series and a championship parade while the Chicago Cubs haven't and "only" had a gay parade. Can you guess which is good and which is bad? 

Roeper recently attended a White Sox game where he frequently saw the above t-shirt (as well as a version sold as a bumper sticker) worn by White Sox fans. Said Roeper: 

The signs, T-shirts and bumper stickers are literally a sign of the times. ... but the explicit message in the parade "joke" is that it's a putdown to call someone gay.

I see this all the time in the chat boxes in the online poker tournaments. A player will lose a hand, and he'll call his opponent "gay" or a "homo." It's never intended as a compliment. Nobody says, "Wow, you're a great player. You must be gay!" It's always, "What a stupid bet, you gay douchebag."

The comments on the Sun-Times site run the gamut from those who get the blatant homophobia to those who tell Roeper to lighten up to those who insist the word "gay" has nothing to do with gay people. It just means lame, dumb or stupid. If you don't understand that, you're just gay.

Given that the above shirt clearly shows two men together under a rainbow flag, I'm not sure how folks can honestly make the claim that the word gay has nothing to do with actually being gay, but they do. People are pretty great about rationalizing their behavior after all.

Perhaps they'd understand the issue better if we went around using their actual names as a putdown for a week. "I hate my boss. He's so Tony." That red, purple and mango dress is soooo Hank!"

Of course, as GLSEN has so admirably made clear, the use of the word "gay" to mean anything other than gay people (or if you're English or over eighty "happy") is inexcusable and shouldn't be tolerated by anyone. 

At least one organization is urging folks to get in touch with the retailers to encourage them to stop selling the shirts. AfterElton.com has contacted both retailers requesting comment, but has yet to hear back. I suspect it's going to take more than just some angry gay folks getting in touch to make a difference.

Perhaps the Cubs and White Sox could team up to denounce sales of the shirts and fans who wear them to games.